Reference

How many bird species are in North Dakota?

North Dakota has 417 bird species on its official list (North Dakota Birding Society, no date on the list), the 44th highest count of the 48 states with a verified count. It flags 115 rare species for review and 59 more only in some cases (our count), such as a Least Tern away from the Missouri River.

North Dakota’s state bird is the Western Meadowlark: our North Dakota state bird page tells how it was chosen.

Updated

What are the most common birds in North Dakota?

In summer, the 25 most common birds in North Dakota are led by the Canada Goose, at about 790 birds per survey route, then the Cliff Swallow and the Red-winged Blackbird, by the USGS Breeding Bird Survey’s counts for 2021–2025. Together these 25 made up 74% of all the birds counted on North Dakota’s 36 survey routes. USGS rates most of these North Dakota estimates as less precise, so read the order as a rough guide.

  1. Canada Goose, painted by Marinus Adrianus Koekkoek
    Marinus Adrianus Koekkoek, E. D. van Oort's Ornithologia Neerlandica (1922)
    1 Canada Goose
    about 790 per route
    on 89% of routes
    no clear trend
  2. Cliff Swallow, painted by John James Audubon
    John James Audubon, The Birds of America (1827–38)
    2 Cliff Swallow
    about 639 per route
    on 97% of routes
    no clear trend
  3. Red-winged Blackbird, painted by John James Audubon
    John James Audubon, The Birds of America (1840–44)
    3 Red-winged Blackbird
    about 359 per route
    on 100% of routes
    no clear trend
  4. Yellow-headed Blackbird, photographed by Daughter Dad
    Photo: Daughter Dad, CC BY 4.0
    4 Yellow-headed Blackbird
    about 279 per route
    on 100% of routes
    falling since 2015
  5. Western Meadowlark, painted by John James Audubon
    John James Audubon, The Birds of America (1840–44)
    5 Western Meadowlark
    about 145 per route
    on 100% of routes
    rising since 2015
  6. Ring-necked Pheasant, painted by Joseph Wolf and Henry Constantine Richter
    Joseph Wolf and Henry Constantine Richter, in John Gould's The Birds of Asia, part XXI (1869)
    6 Ring-necked Pheasant
    about 123 per route
    on 100% of routes
    rising since 2015
    introduced species
  7. Ring-billed Gull, painted by John James Audubon
    John James Audubon, The Birds of America (1827–38)
    7 Ring-billed Gull
    about 123 per route
    on 69% of routes
    no clear trend
  8. Horned Lark, painted by Joseph Wolf
    Joseph Wolf, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (1855)
    8 Horned Lark
    about 122 per route
    on 100% of routes
    no clear trend
  9. Brown-headed Cowbird, painted by John James Audubon
    John James Audubon, The Birds of America (1827–38)
    9 Brown-headed Cowbird
    about 88 per route
    on 100% of routes
    no clear trend
  10. Common Grackle, painted by John James Audubon
    John James Audubon, The Birds of America (1827–38)
    10 Common Grackle
    about 86 per route
    on 100% of routes
    no clear trend
Show all 25
  1. Mallard, painted by John Gould and Elizabeth Gould
    John and Elizabeth Gould, The Birds of Europe (1832–37)
    11 Mallard
    about 78 per route
    on 100% of routes
    falling since 2015
  2. Mourning Dove, painted by John James Audubon
    John James Audubon, The Birds of America (1840–44)
    12 Mourning Dove
    about 73 per route
    on 100% of routes
    rising since 2015
  3. Chestnut-collared Longspur, photographed by InAweofGod'sCreation
    Photo: InAweofGod'sCreation, CC BY 4.0
    13 Chestnut-collared Longspur
    about 56 per route
    on 61% of routes
    no clear trend
  4. Vesper Sparrow, painted by John James Audubon
    John James Audubon, The Birds of America (1827–38)
    14 Vesper Sparrow
    about 54 per route
    on 100% of routes
    rising since 2015
  5. Bobolink, painted by John James Audubon
    John James Audubon, The Birds of America (1840–44)
    15 Bobolink
    about 44 per route
    on 100% of routes
    falling since 2015
  6. American White Pelican, painted by John James Audubon
    John James Audubon, The Birds of America (1827–38)
    16 American White Pelican
    about 43 per route
    on 61% of routes
    no clear trend
  7. Redhead, painted by John James Audubon
    John James Audubon, The Birds of America (1827–38)
    17 Redhead
    about 30 per route
    on 67% of routes
    no clear trend
  8. Black Tern, painted by John Gould and Elizabeth Gould
    John and Elizabeth Gould, The Birds of Europe (1832–37)
    18 Black Tern
    about 26 per route
    on 67% of routes
    no clear trend
  9. Marsh Wren, painted by John James Audubon
    John James Audubon, The Birds of America (1827–38)
    19 Marsh Wren
    about 26 per route
    on 78% of routes
    no clear trend
  10. American Robin, painted by John Gould and Elizabeth Gould
    John and Elizabeth Gould, The Birds of Europe (1832–37)
    20 American Robin
    about 26 per route
    on 100% of routes
    no clear trend
  11. Gadwall, painted by John Gerrard Keulemans
    John Gerrard Keulemans, Onze Vogels in Huis en Tuin (1869–76)
    21 Gadwall
    about 25 per route
    on 97% of routes
    no clear trend
  12. Blue-winged Teal, painted by John James Audubon
    John James Audubon, The Birds of America (1827–38)
    22 Blue-winged Teal
    about 24 per route
    on 97% of routes
    falling since 2015
  13. Rock Pigeon, painted by John Gould
    John Gould, The Birds of Asia (1850–83)
    23 Rock Pigeon
    about 23 per route
    on 97% of routes
    no clear trend
    introduced species
  14. Savannah Sparrow, painted by John James Audubon
    John James Audubon, The Birds of America (1827–38)
    24 Savannah Sparrow
    about 23 per route
    on 100% of routes
    falling since 2015
  15. Upland Sandpiper, painted by Louis Agassiz Fuertes
    Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Portraits and Habits of Our Birds (1925)
    25 Upland Sandpiper
    about 22 per route
    on 97% of routes
    no clear trend

A field guide to North America covers the Cliff Swallow, the Red-winged Blackbird and most of the 417 species on North Dakota’s list; we compared the best bird guide books to find the one that suits a beginner.

What is the most common bird in North Dakota?

The Canada Goose leads North Dakota’s summer survey: about 790 a route on average in 2021–2025, ahead of the Cliff Swallow at about 639, seen on 89% of the 36 routes. USGS finds no clear rise or fall in its North Dakota numbers since 2015.

Some thirty years ago, the Horned Lark: in statewide surveys of 1967 and 1992-93, USGS scientists found it the most widespread nesting bird, ahead of the Brown-headed Cowbird, Western Meadowlark, Red-winged Blackbird and Eastern Kingbird. The five most abundant birds, the Horned Lark and Chestnut-collared Longspur among them, made up 31 to 41 percent of the state's estimated breeding birds.

Source: Changes in breeding bird populations in North Dakota: 1967 to 1992-93 (Igl and Johnson, The Auk, 1997; U.S. Geological Survey), read October 22, 2026.

How was this list made?

Each of North Dakota’s 36 routes is a roadside count, 50 stops along about 25 miles, run once a year in early summer by a volunteer. We took USGS’s yearly estimate for each species in North Dakota, the number of birds a typical route records, averaged it over the five latest survey years (there was no survey in 2020) and ranked the birds by it. To keep the list to birds you’re likely to meet across North Dakota, we left out species recorded on fewer than one in five of its routes, and those USGS can only estimate very roughly, which usually means big flocks or colonies on a few routes.

For North Dakota that left out the Franklin's Gull and the White-faced Ibis.

The share of routes is our own count from USGS’s route data for North Dakota, using only counts that met the survey’s standards; “rising” and “falling” are USGS’s trends for the state since 2015, named only where it finds a clear change. Roadside counts on early-summer mornings miss most of North Dakota’s owls and waterbirds, and its winter visitors aren’t here at all.

North Dakota’s counts come from two USGS data releases, the North American Breeding Bird Survey Analysis Results 1966–2025 (Hostetler et al., 2026) and its Dataset 1966–2025 (Ziolkowski et al., 2026), gathered by volunteer observers and free for anyone to use; Birdfolio isn’t connected with the USGS.

How many bird species are in North Dakota?

From North Dakota’s official list, read on October 22, 2026.
Official count417 species
List’s dateNot given on the North Dakota list (we read it on October 22, 2026)
Kept byNorth Dakota Birding Society
Review list115 rare species, each sighting needing a report (our count)
Marked as nesting222 species (our count)
Extinct2, the Passenger Pigeon and Eskimo Curlew, counted in the 417
Total since417 in every Internet Archive copy from July 2024 on
Among US states44th highest of the 49 US lists (50 states and DC) with a verified count
Official listNorth Dakota Official Checklist (Internet Archive copy of 13 July 2026)

What does North Dakota’s count include?

  • Every species the North Dakota Birding Society's records committee accepts for the state, 417 in all, each with its scientific name and a four-letter code.
  • A review tick on 115 rare species (our count): anyone who sees one is asked for a written report, which the committee checks before the sighting counts.
  • Notes on 59 more species saying which of their sightings still need a report (our count), most often a nest: a nesting Trumpeter Swan, a Common Loon nesting outside the Turtle Mountains, a Rock Wren nesting east of US Highway 83.
  • A nesting mark on 222 species (our count), the Piping Plover, Sprague's Pipit and Baird's Sparrow among them.
  • Two extinct birds, counted in the total: the Passenger Pigeon, and the Eskimo Curlew, which the list still names as a review species.

Why do other sources give a different number?

North Dakota's total has grown as the committee accepts new species, and older lists counted fewer:

North Dakota’s list follows its own committee’s rules, and so does every other state’s: see why the counts differ from state to state.

North Dakota records, from six new species in 2004-2005 to a Ruff north of Steele

Questions people ask about North Dakota’s birds

Which US state has the most bird species?

California, with 696 species on its official checklist as of October 20, 2026, ahead of Texas at 678. North Dakota's 417, its two extinct birds included, rank 44th of the 48 states with a verified count in our table, ahead of only Kentucky, Vermont, West Virginia and Hawaii.

Sources: Official California Checklist, updated October 20, 2026 (California Bird Records Committee, Western Field Ornithologists); Texas State List, last updated June 7, 2026 (Texas Bird Records Committee, Texas Ornithological Society); North Dakota Official Checklist (North Dakota Birding Society), the Internet Archive's copy of July 13, 2026, read October 22, 2026.

What is the rarest bird in North Dakota?

The Great Gray Owl is the rarest owl you can see here, a Game and Fish biologist says, with maybe one sighting reported a year. It is one of 115 review species on the official checklist (our count). As a rule, a review species has turned up fewer than 15 times in the state, or four times a year or less over ten years, and the extinct Eskimo Curlew is still among them.

Sources: Back Cast, North Dakota Outdoors, January 2025 (North Dakota Game and Fish Department); North Dakota Official Checklist (North Dakota Birding Society), the Internet Archive's copy of July 13, 2026; Bylaws of the North Dakota Bird Records Committee, last revised May 21, 2010 (North Dakota Birding Society), the Internet Archive's copy of May 15, 2026, read October 22, 2026.

What is the state bird of North Dakota?

The Western Meadowlark, a songbird with a bright yellow belly and a black V that likes to sing from fence posts. Game and Fish's fact sheet calls it still fairly common in the western two-thirds of the state but much scarcer in the eastern third than it once was, and declining. The Eastern Meadowlark, by contrast, is a review species on the official checklist, so every sighting of one needs a report.

How the Western Meadowlark became North Dakota's bird, with the elm, in 1947

Sources: Western Meadowlark, fact sheet (North Dakota Game and Fish Department), the Internet Archive's copy of September 19, 2025; North Dakota Official Checklist (North Dakota Birding Society), the Internet Archive's copy of July 13, 2026, read October 22, 2026.

What hawks and owls live in North Dakota?

The official checklist holds 22 daytime birds of prey, from the Turkey Vulture and Osprey to eagles, hawks and falcons, and 12 owls (our count). The Ferruginous Hawk is one of the society's North Dakota specialties, and nine are rare enough to be review species, the Gyrfalcon, Crested Caracara and Great Gray Owl among them. In Theodore Roosevelt National Park, golden eagles and great horned owls stay all year, the National Park Service says.

Sources: North Dakota Official Checklist (North Dakota Birding Society), the Internet Archive's copy of July 13, 2026; Finding ND Specialties (North Dakota Birding Society), the Internet Archive's copy of June 14, 2026; Birds, Theodore Roosevelt National Park (National Park Service), read October 22, 2026.

Are there hummingbirds in North Dakota?

Yes, but mostly one kind: the Ruby-throated Hummingbird is the only one the official checklist marks as nesting, and the only one not on its review list. The other five, the Black-chinned, Anna's, Calliope, Rufous and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, are review species, so each sighting needs a report to the records committee.

Source: North Dakota Official Checklist (North Dakota Birding Society), the Internet Archive's copy of July 13, 2026, read October 22, 2026.

Which birds live in North Dakota?

Grassland birds above all. Most visiting birders come for them, the North Dakota Birding Society says, and its specialties run from the Sharp-tailed Grouse, Yellow Rail and Ferruginous Hawk to Sprague's Pipit, the Chestnut-collared Longspur and Baird's Sparrow. Their prairie changes from year to year, so a pasture with Baird's Sparrows one year may not suit them the next. Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge, a Globally Important Bird Area, keeps prairie for the pipit and the sparrow, and for bigger birds such as the Marbled Godwit, Upland Sandpiper and Willet.

Water is the other half. North Dakota lies in the Prairie Pothole Region, where glaciers left hollows about 10,000 years ago that now fill with water, and the region raises more than half of North America's ducks. The state has 63 national wildlife refuges, more than any other, the Fish and Wildlife Service says. One of them, J. Clark Salyer, lies in the bed of an ancient glacial lake, and over 250 bird species are found there. The Missouri River below Garrison Dam has a list of more than 170, 14 kinds of gulls among them, and Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota more than 185, with golden eagles and wild turkeys there all year.

Sources: Finding ND Specialties (North Dakota Birding Society), the Internet Archive's copy of June 14, 2026; Birding, Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), the Internet Archive's copy of July 20, 2026; North Dakota Wildlife Refuges and Wetland Resources, a lesson plan (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), the Internet Archive's copy of May 16, 2026; J. Clark Salyer National Wildlife Refuge (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), the Internet Archive's copy of October 17, 2026; Birding in North Dakota (Audubon magazine, National Audubon Society, April 28, 2016); Birds, Theodore Roosevelt National Park (National Park Service), read October 22, 2026.

Why did 30,000 pelicans leave Chase Lake in 2004?

No one could say for sure. Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge, set up by Theodore Roosevelt in 1908, held the largest American White Pelican colony in North America: 35,466 birds at its peak in 2000, up from as few as 50 in the early 1900s. In late May and early June 2004 about 30,000 pelicans disappeared. Within eight days two of the three nesting sites were deserted, with thousands of eggs left behind, and by late June the island site was empty too; none of the chicks survived, the Fish and Wildlife Service reported at the time.

Investigators weighed coyotes, people, disease, weather and food. Coyotes had destroyed eggs on the mainland, and a cold, wet, windy storm struck from May 29 to June 1, but there was no sign of disease, and West Nile virus usually arrives about six weeks later in the season, Game and Fish's study found. Its verdict: the definitive causes may never be determined. A Service spokesman suggested it might simply have been “a quirk of nature.”

Sources: Pelican Deaths, Dispersal at Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, July 2005), the Internet Archive's copy of July 19, 2026; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Partners Prepare for Return of White Pelicans to Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge (March 2005), the Internet Archive's copy of July 20, 2026; Exploration of Factors That May Lead to Colony Abandonment or Reduced Productivity of American White Pelicans in the Northern Plains, final report, September 2007 (North Dakota Game and Fish Department), read October 22, 2026.

How did the Bakken oil boom change life for prairie birds?

It shrank their usable prairie far beyond the drill sites. From 2012 to 2014, USGS and Fish and Wildlife Service scientists studied grassland in northern North Dakota where wells had been drilled sideways and fracked. The birds kept about 150 meters, or 492 feet, from gravel roads and 267 meters from pads with a single well. Sprague's Pipit kept 350 meters away, and Baird's Sparrows, Chestnut-collared Longspurs and Grasshopper Sparrows were scarcer as far out as 550 meters, the farthest the survey reached. Clay-colored Sparrows and Brown-headed Cowbirds didn't seem to mind.

So each well's footprint is “greatly multiplied” for the sensitive species, the study concludes, and it suggests fewer new roads and many wells sharing one pad. Game and Fish's fact sheet on the Western Meadowlark repeats the lesson: grassland birds avoid habitat within 150 meters of roads and 350 meters of oilfield equipment.

Sources: Avoidance of unconventional oil wells and roads exacerbates habitat loss for grassland birds in the North American great plains (U.S. Geological Survey, 2015); Birds in the Bakken: Oil Development Can Affect Critical Habitat (U.S. Geological Survey); Western Meadowlark, fact sheet (North Dakota Game and Fish Department), the Internet Archive's copy of September 19, 2025, read October 22, 2026.

Where is the official North Dakota bird list, and how often is it updated?

On the North Dakota Birding Society's website, ndbirdingsociety.org, under North Dakota Birds: the official checklist, a web page that gives its total at the top but no date, with columns for nesting, the review list and review specifics, a filter by bird family and a printable field checklist. The site didn't answer on October 21 or 22, 2026, so the link here is the Internet Archive's copy of July 13, 2026. The committee's bylaws have each round of decisions bring the state list up to date, and the archive's copies show it at 417 since July 2024.

The society's Bird Records Committee keeps the list: five voting members, a chair, a secretary and three more, with two alternates standing by, under bylaws last revised on May 21, 2010. Rare sightings are peer-reviewed before publication. A record is accepted with four or more votes in favor, members may not abstain, and the review list itself is checked at least every five years. The committee began in 1979 under the North Dakota Natural Science Society, and its reports go to The Prairie Naturalist, where the third, covering 2004-2005, appeared in 2009.

Sources: North Dakota Official Checklist (North Dakota Birding Society), the Internet Archive's copy of July 13, 2026; North Dakota Official Checklist (North Dakota Birding Society), the Internet Archive's copy of July 14, 2024; North Dakota Records Committee (North Dakota Birding Society), the Internet Archive's copy of June 14, 2026; Rare Bird Review List (North Dakota Birding Society), the Internet Archive's copy of May 15, 2026; Bylaws of the North Dakota Bird Records Committee, last revised May 21, 2010 (North Dakota Birding Society), the Internet Archive's copy of May 15, 2026; First Report of the North Dakota Rare Bird Committee (The Prairie Naturalist 35:4, December 2003), on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's DigitalCommons; Third Report of the North Dakota Bird Records Committee: 2004-2005 (The Prairie Naturalist 41, 2009), on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's DigitalCommons, read October 22, 2026.

How do you count your own North Dakota list?

Your North Dakota list is every species you’ve seen in North Dakota. If you log your sightings in eBird, it lets you filter your life list by place, North Dakota included (eBird’s My eBird help page, updated March 28, 2025), and the data download you can ask for gives the state of every sighting: our guide shows how to download your own eBird data. On paper, count the species you’ve seen in North Dakota; what is a life list? explains how birders keep their lists.

If you’d like your whole life list in print, North Dakota birds and all, our guide shows how to print your bird life list, free ways included, and Birdfolio turns it into a hardcover book, each species beside a classic painting.

North Dakota’s state bird

North Dakota’s state bird is the Western Meadowlark (officially, the “meadowlark”), the state bird since 1947. Its story, the state flower and animal, and a free picture card for a report are on our North Dakota state bird page.

Birding festivals in North Dakota

Our birding festivals calendar lists one festival in North Dakota, with dates from its own website:

Christmas Bird Count in North Dakota

North Dakota had 21 Christmas Bird Count circles on Audubon’s map last winter, each counted on a single day between December 14 and January 5. Our guide shows where to find North Dakota’s counts and how to join one; it’s free, and beginners are welcome.

More about bird counts

If you’re shopping for a birder in North Dakota, our gift guide for birders and our pick of coffee table bird books are good places to start.

Sources

The count, its date and the details above come from the official list, North Dakota Official Checklist (Internet Archive copy of 13 July 2026), read on October 22, 2026. Every other North Dakota fact on this page links the source it comes from, with the day we read it. We never use eBird’s data or a website’s estimate for North Dakota’s count, and Birdfolio is independent and not affiliated with eBird or the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.